This invention is a process for the total manufacture of chewing gum base and chewing gum using a single high efficiency continuous mixer.
Conventionally, chewing gum base and chewing gum product have been manufactured using separate mixers, different mixing technologies and, often, at different factories. One reason for this is that the optimum conditions for manufacturing gum base, and for manufacturing chewing gum from gum base and other ingredients such as sweeteners and flavors, are so different that it has been impractical to integrate both tasks. Chewing gum base manufacture, on the one hand, involves the dispersive (often high shear) mixing of difficult-to-blend ingredients such as elastomer, filler, elastomer plasticizer, base softeners/emulsifiers and, sometimes wax, and typically requires long mixing times. Chewing gum product manufacture, on the other hand, involves combining the gum base with more delicate ingredients such as product softeners, bulk sweeteners, high intensity sweeteners and flavoring agents using distributive (generally lower shear) mixing, for shorter periods.
In order to improve the efficiency of gum base and gum product manufacture, there has been a trend toward the continuous manufacture of chewing gum bases and products. U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,064, issued to Ehrgott et al., discloses the continuous manufacture of gum base using a sequence of mixers or a single variable mixer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,311, issued to DeTora et al., also discloses the continuous manufacture of gum base using a sequence of mixers. Other continuous gum base manufacturing processes are disclosed in European Publication No. 0,273,809 (General Foods France) and in French Publication No. 2,635,441 (General Foods France).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,325, issued to Lesko et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,407, issued to Kramer et al., disclose processes for the continuous production of chewing gum products. In each case, however, the gum base is initially prepared separately and is simply added into the process. U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,511, issued to D""Amelia et al., discloses a chewing gum product containing certain vinyl polymers which can be produced in a direct one-step process not requiring separate manufacture of gum base. However, the disclosure focuses on batch mixing processes not having the efficiency and product consistency achieved with continuous mixing. Also, the single-step processes are limited to chewing gums containing unconventional bases which lack elastomers and other critical ingredients.
In order to simplify and minimize the cost of chewing gum manufacture, there is need or desire in the chewing gum industry for an integrated continuous manufacturing process having the ability to combine chewing gum base ingredients and other chewing gum ingredients in a single mixer, which can be used to manufacture a wide variety of chewing gums.
The present invention provides methods for the continuous manufacture of a wide variety of chewing gum products using high efficiency mixers without requiring the separate manufacture of chewing gum base. Pursuant to the present invention, one or more mixing elements is provided at the ingredient ports of a high efficiency continuous mixer. This arrangement maximizes the mixing efficiency of the mixer and provides greater overall mixing capability, especially in mixers having a limited L/D.
To this end, in an embodiment, the present invention provides a method of continuously manufacturing a chewing gum without requiring the separate manufacture of a chewing gum base. The method includes the steps of adding chewing gum ingredients to a high efficiency continuous mixer. At least one of the ingredients is added to the high efficiency continuous mixer through a port of the high efficiency mixer that is not adjacent to a conveyor element.
In an embodiment, the port is adjacent to a mixer element. In a further embodiment, the mixing element is a low shear mixing element. However, in another embodiment, the mixing element is a high shear mixing element.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides another method of continuously manufacturing a chewing gum without requiring the separate manufacture of a chewing gum base. The method includes the step of adding chewing gum ingredients to a high efficiency continuous mixer that includes mixing elements and at least one ingredient addition port that includes adjacent thereto a mixing element.
The present invention provides, in another embodiment, a still further method of continuously manufacturing chewing gum without requiring the separate manufacture of a chewing gum base. The method includes the steps of: a) adding at least an elastomer and filler into a high efficiency continuous mixer, and mixing the elastomer and filler together in the continuous mixer; b) adding at least one ingredient selected from the group consisting of fats, oils, waxes and elastomer plasticizers into the continuous mixer through at least one ingredient addition port, and mixing said ingredient with the elastomer and filler in the continuous mixer; c) adding at least one sweetener and at least one flavor through at least one ingredient addition port into the continuous mixer, and mixing said sweetener and flavor with the remaining ingredients to form a chewing gum product; and d) wherein at least one of the ingredient addition ports is located adjacent to a mixing element.
In still another embodiment, the present invention provides a method of continuously manufacturing chewing gum without requiring the separate manufacture of a chewing gum base. The method includes the steps of: a) adding at least an elastomer and filler into a high efficiency continuous mixer that includes a screw and having mixing and conveyor elements and has at least one ingredient addition port that is not adjacent to a conveyor element; b) adding at least one sweetener and at least one flavoring agent into the elastomer and filler in the continuous mixer; c) subjecting at least the sweetener, flavoring agent, elastomer and filler to distributive mixing in the continuous mixer, to form a chewing gum product; and d) continuously discharging the chewing gum product from the mixer.
And, in another embodiment, the present invention provides a method of continuously manufacturing chewing gum without requiring the separate manufacture of a chewing gum base. The method includes the steps of: a) adding at least an elastomer and filler into a mixer that includes mixing and conveyor elements, and mixing the elastomer and filler together; b) adding at least one ingredient selected from the group consisting of fats, oils, waxes and elastomer plasticizers into the mixer, and mixing said at least one ingredient with the elastomer and filler using blades and pins; c) adding at least one sweetener and at least one flavor into the mixer, and mixing said sweetener and flavor with the remaining ingredients to form a chewing gum product; and d) wherein one of the ingredients is added to the mixer through a port that is not located adjacent a conveyor element.
Pursuant to the present invention, a high efficiency continuous mixer is used. A high efficiency continuous mixer is one which is capable of providing thorough mixing over a relatively short distance or length of the mixer. This distance is expressed as a ratio of the length of a particular active region of the mixer screw, which is composed of mixing elements, divided by the maximum diameter of the mixer barrel in this active region. In an embodiment, the method of the invention comprises performing the following mixing steps in a single continuous mixer having at one or more ingredient port a mixing element:
a) adding and thoroughly mixing at least a portion of the chewing gum base ingredients (elastomer, elastomer plasticizer, filler, etc.) in a continuous mixer, using an L/D of not more than about 25;
b) adding at least a portion of the remaining (non-base) chewing gum ingredients (sweeteners, flavors, softeners, etc.), and thoroughly mixing these ingredients with the gum base in the same mixer, using an L/D of not more than about 15; and
c) sufficiently completing the entire addition and mixing operation in the same mixer, so that the ingredients exist as a substantially homogeneous chewing gum mass, using a total L/D of not more than about 40.
It is preferred that the gum base ingredients be completely added and mixed upstream from the remaining chewing gum ingredients, and that the remaining ingredients be completely added downstream for mixing with the already blended gum base. However, the invention also includes those variations wherein a portion of the gum base ingredients may be added downstream with or after some of the remaining ingredients, and/or wherein a portion of the remaining (non-base) ingredients are added upstream with or before some of the base ingredients. An important feature is that a substantially homogenous chewing gum product mass be formed in a single continuous mixer, using an L/D of not more than about 40, without requiring a separate mixer to manufacture the chewing gum base.
With the foregoing in mind, it is an advantage of the invention to provide a continuous method for manufacturing chewing gum which does not require a separate manufacture of chewing gum base.
It is also an advantage of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing chewing gum that affords greater mixing of the ingredients.
It is also an advantage of the present invention to provide a high efficiency continuous mixer that maximizes mixing over a short L/D.
It is also an advantage of the invention to provide a continuous method for making chewing gum which accomplishes every essential mixing step using a single mixer.
It is also an advantage of the invention to provide a continuous method for making chewing gum which requires less equipment, less capital investment, and less labor than conventional manufacturing methods.
It is also an advantage of the invention to provide a continuous manufacturing method that produces chewing gum having greater product consistency, less thermal degradation, less thermal history, and less contamination than chewing gum produced using conventional processes that require longer manufacturing times and more manufacturing steps.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will become further apparent from the following detailed description of the presently preferred embodiments, read in conjunction with the accompanying examples and drawings. The detailed description, examples and drawings are intended to be merely illustrative rather than limiting, the scope of the invention being defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.